9 people, 2 towers, 1 disaster
by SugarCubes101
Summary: A news reporter, a bystander, a wife, a fireman, a hero, a victim, and a survivor. Set on September 11, 2001. 9/11 tribute.


_8:49 AM- September 11, 2001_

News reports came flooding in. You could feel the fear in the room. Nina Martin sat at the news table waiting to report to the US what was happening in Manhattan. The director started counting down. 5…4…3…2…1.

"This just in," She started. "You are looking at a very disturbing live shot there. That's the world trade center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. CNN Center right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources and trying to figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of one of the towers of the World Trade Center."

Meanwhile, Mara was scared for her life. A plane had just hit a few floors below her. She was panic stricken. She didn't know what to do. _Maybe if I stay here someone will save me._ She thought. _Maybe this is a dream._ She stayed where she was. She had nowhere else to go. She was trapped.

Jerome arrived on the scene in all his fireman gear. He had no idea what was going on. All he knew was the world trade center had gotten hit and Mara was in there somewhere. He rushed inside. The goal was to save as many people as they could. _His_ goal was to save Mara.

Fabian started running for his life. There was a loud bang and the ground shook. At first he thought it was an earthquake, but then he realized one of the world trade centers was burning. Something had crashed into it. He ran to the TV studio that his girlfriend worked at as a news reporter. He burst in and they were on commercial.

"Are you ok?" He kept asking Nina.

"I'm fine. Fabian, what's wrong?"

"The world trade center got hit."

Joy also started running. She was walking along the sidewalk at least 100 feet from the north tower and she saw the plane crash into it. She felt like she was paralyzed, but she started running. She ran until she couldn't run anymore. She sat down on a bench in the park to catch her breath. America was under attack.

Patricia sat at home when she saw her old friend, Nina Martin, reporting about the world trade center getting hit. She gasped and sat down on her couch. "What?" She said in disbelief. Smoke rose from the tower. She didn't live in New York, however, the rest of her good friends did. She just kept her eyes glued to the TV.

Amber sat at her desk in the south tower when she heard a loud bang and some screaming. She looked out the window and saw the north tower had been struck by something. She gasped. _What's happening?_ She thought. Then another thought came upon her. Mara.

Mara had been stranded on the 104th floor for 5 minutes already. "I've got to get out of here," She kept telling herself. She went to the stairwell and when she reached the 99th floor it was on fire and smoke seemed to be all around. She heard many screams of pain before she left. She was too nervous to go down to the other floors, so she went back up. _Now I've really got to get out of here._

Jerome climbed the flights of stairs to get to his love when Alfie stopped him. "Jerome," He said.

"What?!" Jerome said angrily. He was keeping him from getting to Mara.

"We have a job to do. As firemen."

"Yeah," Jerome said through clenched teeth. "Well _I _have a duty. To Mara."

Alfie stood for a moment then sighed. "You better hurry." Jerome continued running up the stairs when Alfie thought to himself, _You're in for one hell of a climb._

They were back from commercial and Fabian had to stay behind the camera, which was fine with him. He was just overjoyed Nina was safe. Nina started reporting on the matter as Fabian was zoned out. He just hoped everyone he knew was ok.

Joy started walking to the north tower to see what was going on. She made sure to keep her distance as she gazed up on the burning tower. It was horrifying. She didn't know who would have the nerve to do this. Who would be evil enough to kill this many people?

Patricia had been glued to the TV for the last 15 minutes when another shock was unveiled. The south tower had been struck by yet another plane. She could tell Nina was absolutely terrified. She bit her lip as she ate her cereal. She just wanted everything to be the way it was yesterday. Not a worry in the world.

Amber felt the ground shake again. Now she was worried. She didn't know what was happening, but she went to the elevator and started pushing the down button, but nothing happened. She kept pressing it, but realized time was being drained away from her. She realized the south tower had been struck.

Mara saw the south tower get hit and she thought of Amber. _Please let Amber make it out alive._ She thought. Tears welled up in her eyes and she started crying. She was probably gonna die and there was nothing she could do about it. She looked out the window at all the commotion. _Jerome will save me._ She thought. _I hope._

Jerome was on floor 36 before he had to stop again. He had another 68 floors to go and approximately 136 more flights of stairs, give or take a few. When he just about caught his breath he started running again. He continued to repeat Mara's name in his head. _Mara, Mara, Mara._

"Another shock to the nation," Nina said into the camera. "Now the south tower has been struck by a plane." Fabian jumped at these words. _What will happen next?_ He wondered. _How could this possibly get any worse?_

Joy thought of Mara and Amber. They both worked in one or both of them. She looked up when she saw someone standing on a ledge. She screamed and pointed, so the bystanders around her would notice. They all gasped as the man on the ledge got ready to seal his fate.

People were jumping and committing suicide. _This is getting out of hand._ Patricia thought. She was sucked into the TV when someone pulled her out of it. "Mommy?" Her daughter, Ella, said innocently. "What's going on?"

"Come here," Patricia motioned and Ella walked over. Patricia sat the 3 year old on her lap. "You see those two buildings?" She pointed to the screen.

"Yeah," Ella replied.

"They just got hit by planes, sweetheart."

"Why?" Ella asked.

Patricia thought, then shook her head. "I don't know." Then a thought immediately struck her with the entrance of Ella. _I just hope Eddie's ok._ She thought.

Meanwhile, Eddie was aboard the plane without a care in the world when the man next to him said, "What is going on?"

Eddie was curious as to why he said that out loud. "What?"

The man turned toward him. "The world trade centers got crashed into by planes."

Eddie went wide eyed. "Both of them?"

Jerome grew more tired by the minute. All his training and weight lifting were nothing compared to climbing flights of stairs with at least 15 pounds of equipment on your back while you'll probably die anyway. That was probably the worst feeling in the world.

Mara felt the ground shake a little and she knew what she had to do. It was either hit the ground by yourself or hit the ground with everything crumbling on top of you. She climbed out onto a nearby ledge and after being out there for 30 seconds she heard a sudden array of screams.

Amber was determined to get out alive. She was below where the plane crashed, so she had time. She was on the 27th floor and that gave her more of an advantage. She ran to the stairwell and took of her heels as she ran down the steps for her life.

Joy screamed and pointed up to a woman on a ledge. Little did she know it was Mara. She was as scared as hell for every single one of those people. _I really hope Mara and Amber are ok. _

Eddie called Patricia from the plane. "Is it true?" He asked.

"What?"

"That the world trade centers got hit?"

Patricia hesitated. "Yeah,"

Eddie swore a little under his breath. "Are you ok?" Patricia asked him.

"Yeah, I guess." He said.

Patricia nodded. "Stay safe." She reminded her husband.

"I will." He hung up when a man across the aisle said something.

"This plane's been hijacked."

Eddie jumped at the words that just came out of the man's mouth. "What?" He asked.

"This plane's been hijacked." He repeated.

Eddie's eyebrows furrowed. "How do you know?"

"Think about it," He said. "We haven't received any words from the pilots, the flight attendants aren't around, and the world trade centers _and_ the pentagon got hit by hijacked airplanes."

_The pentagon too?_ Eddie thought. _What's next?_

Amber was on the 4th when she thought she couldn't run anymore. She was so close, yet so far. She just pushed past it and kept running as the fire department and police force ran up the stairs.

Meanwhile, Mara was facing the toughest choice of her life. She wasn't going to even try to get out the other way because the exits were probably blocked anyway. She stood on the ledge and prepared herself for the 1,368 foot fall that was about to come.

Jerome ran up the steps. He was currently on the 78th floor and he was so close to Mara. Or at least it felt like it. "I'm coming for you, Mara!" He yelled. He started running again. "If it's the last thing I do."

Joy saw Amber escape from the front of the building. "Amber!" Joy yelled. Amber looked in her direction.

"Joy." Amber ran over and hugged her.

"How did you make it out?" Joy asked.

"I was on the 27th floor." Amber said trying to catch her breath. "I think I just got lucky."

Joy smiled, but it was immediately stopped by the screams of many bystanders. Joy looked up and saw another person commit suicide. "How many have there been?" Amber asked.

"You don't wanna know, Ambs."

Nina was now reporting on the pentagon _and_ both the world trade centers, while Fabian stood behind camera. They were all scared. You could feel the angst on set. That's how scary it was.

Eddie called Patricia again. "What's going on?" Patricia immediately asked.

Eddie sighed. "Our plane's been hijacked."

Patricia gasped and felt tears about to come. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "And?"

Eddie paused. "We're gonna try to take it back. The whole plane."

"Who's _stupid_ idea was this?" Patricia asked.

"Mine." Eddie said. "There's a guy who took some flying lessons, so he's gonna try to fly it."

Tears streamed down Patricia's cheeks and she braced herself for what she was going to have to say next. "When?"

"Whenever we're over farmland or something like that."

"Ok," Patricia said. She was choked up, but she could still somehow talk. She took a deep breath. "I love you."

He smiled. "I love you too. And my little Ella."

Patricia nodded and tried to think of something to say. "Eddie, I'm gonna go and throw up, but I want you to promise me you won't let those bastards go down without a fight."

"For you and Ella." He replied. "I love you, so much."

"I love you too." Eddie hung up and prepared for the battle. As for Patricia, she kept to her word and went into the bathroom and threw up.

Mara stood on the ledge and looked down. She was so high up and she couldn't bare to think about all this. She could hear the sounds of police cars and screaming. She looked at all the bystanders and they were screaming and pointing at her. She took off her heels and threw them to the ground. That's when she realized how far down it was. Tears dripped down face as she jumped.

Amber and Joy watched in horror as another person committed suicide. Amber screamed when she realized who it was. "What's wrong?" Joy asked.

Tears streamed down Amber's face like Niagara Falls. "That was Mara." After that sentence Joy, too, started crying.

In the meantime, Jerome had made it to the floor where the collision had happened and he realized he had no way to get past the flames. It would be too hot and he knew he had no way to get to Mara. And even if he did Mara had no way to get out. He lost hope. The tower would probably collapse any minute.

"Are we ready?" Eddie asked.

"Yep," Everyone said in unison. Even some of the crew.

"Let's do this."

All the passengers went to the cockpit door and realized it was locked. A couple of them banged on the door, but it was no use. Eddie heard the hijackers shout something in Arabic.

Someone peered through the cockpit's peep hole and saw one of them had an axe. "One of them had an axe." He said.

"They're doing that to scare us." Eddie remarked. He looked around and sparked an idea. "Let's use the drink cart to break in."

Everyone went along with the idea and they rammed the drink cart into the door. Suddenly, they felt the plane go down, but it shot back up again. "Again!" Eddie instructed. They rammed the drink cart into the door a second time and when they felt the plane go down it didn't shoot back up. It plummeted right into the ground in a fiery explosion.

Patricia watched one of the towers collapse. Nina reported on it. Jerome was inside. Amber and Joy started running for their lives. Alfie made it out safely. Fabian felt the ground shake because of it. Eddie lost his life, as did Mara.

2,753 people were dead three of them being Jerome, Mara, and Eddie. A daughter was daddyless. A wife was now a widow. A fireman would be a Medal of Honor recipient. A news reporter would become more famous than she already was. Simple things wouldn't seem so simple anymore.

The world would never be the same.

**So I spent literally 2 weeks on this and I'm pretty happy with it. And for those of you who regularly read my stories I'm so sorry I haven't updated anything in FOREVER! School started a couple weeks ago and I'm still trying to find time to write and get adjusted to the new schedule, so probably mid-September there'll be more updates.**

** And maybe this will become a two shot. Possibly next year? Or in a couple weeks? I don't know, but if you guys want me to do an epilogue type of thing, I'll do that.**

** That being said, I love you guys! Bye!**


End file.
